"We are not immune, but we hope to do the best," said Anne Georget.
This fourth edition is back in January, "its natural biotope" and will honor the Benelux countries after a 2021 vintage postponed several times due to the Covid-19 crisis and finally held in June.
Unlike a still postponed Angoulême comic strip festival, Fipadoc "chooses face-to-face", explains its president.
The "very large" installations in Biarritz and the "low risk of propagation" presented by the cinema, "where one sits, without speaking, with a mask", persuaded the team to maintain the meeting.
More than 150 documentary films will be screened over six days and the professional days will be "hybrid", between presence in Biarritz and guests abroad, in virtual form.
Here again, Fipadoc wanted to free itself from videoconferences, "which have their limits".
"There are big demands from the professional world, which never works as well as when festivals allow meetings", explains Anne Georget.
The selection, unveiled Thursday, is divided into four major prizes: international competitions, national, music films and impact (focused on environmental and social issues).
It will highlight several films devoted to press freedom or depicting migration routes.
The films "Writing with fire" by Indians Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, awarded at the Sundance festival, and "Shadow games" by the Dutch Eefje Blankevoort and Els Van Driel will be part of the Impact selection.
The animated documentary "Flee", by Danish director Jonas Poher Rasmussen, about the life of an Oscar nominated Afghan who had to flee his country in the late 1980s, could create a sensation, as could the "Marie- José is expecting you at 4 pm "from Frenchman Camille Ponsin.
The festival will also give carte blanche to the Franco-German channel, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
© 2022 AFP